Communication system, settlement management apparatus and method, portable information terminal and information processing method, and program

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a communication system that enables safe and easy addition of a function for use of credit card settlement services to a portable information terminal. In this system, if a user brings his credit card close to the portable information terminal, the portable information terminal reads a card ID stored in a contactless IC card provided in the credit card. Then, the card ID is transmitted to a card management system which checks whether or not the card ID is valid. If confirming that the card ID is valid, the card management system instructs the portable information terminal to write the card ID thereto. If the user places an order of a merchandize, the card ID written to the portable information terminal is provided therefrom to use credit card settlement services.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention claims priority to its priority document No.2003-076190 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Mar. 19, 2003, theentire contents of which being incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a communication system,settlement management apparatus and method, and a program. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a communication system,settlement management apparatus and method, and a program, which enableaddition of a function of using credit settlement services to a portableinformation terminal more safely and easily.

2. Description of Related Art

Recently, along with dissemination of commercial transaction conductedover the Internet, there have been realized or proposed various kinds ofsystems for settlement of purchased merchandizes.

For example, a settlement system using a credit card embedded with an ICchip has already been realized and is becoming widespread.

In this case, just placing a user's credit card on a reader/writerconnected to a personal computer enables the user to encryptinformation, which represents a credit card number, an expiration dateand so on and is stored in a memory of the IC chip built in the card,and to transmit the encrypted information to a server that manages thesettlement.

This can prevent leakage of a credit card number, which has been aproblem in a case of simply and directly entering the card number in abrowser.

Further, it has been proposed that a mobile phone of a customer havingpurchased a merchandize is used for settlement in a commercialtransaction conducted over the Internet (see Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication Laid-Open No. 2002-56338 (hereunder referred to as PatentDocument 1)).

In a settlement system described in the Patent Document 1, informationconcerning a bank account of the customer is obtained from the phonenumber of the mobile phone used for requesting settlement. Then,charging thereto is performed. Thus, the settlement can be made withouttransmission/receipt of private information concerning the card numberand so forth.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, to utilize the settlement system described in the PatentDocument 1, a user should register information, such as a phone numberof his own mobile phone and a bank account, in a server that manages thesystem. It is anticipated that some users may feel resistance toregistering the information on these items.

That is, even it is inevitable to register the information concerningthe bank account and the credit card therein because the settlement forthe purchased merchandize should be performed, many of users are notwilling to provide additional private information concerning items otherthan the bank account and the credit card to anyone else (including theserver and the like).

Thus, it has been considered that information on a credit card numberand so on is preliminarily stored directly in an IC chip or memoryincorporated in a mobile phone, and that thereafter, the settlement isperformed by using the stored information. However, this technique has adrawback in that it is not an easy task to properly store theinformation while ensuring security.

For instance, If a user is permitted to register information concerninga card number and an expiration date of his own card and so on directlyin a mobile phone by operating the mobile phone, the system cannotprevent what is called spoofing. That is, a rigger can easily performspoofing by inputting the card number and the expiration date of otherpeople's credit card.

In a case of using a related credit card incorporating an IC chip, thecredit card is issued in a state in which information on the credit cardnumber is stored therein. Thus, in this case, the above-mentioneddrawback does not occur. However, in the case of newly adding a creditcard function to a mobile phone or the like that a user already has, theabove-mentioned drawback occurs.

Alternatively, a credit card issuing corporation may ask a user to sendhis mobile phone so as to store credit card information in an IC chip ofthe user's mobile phone on behalf of the user. However, this techniqueis impractical.

Accordingly, it is desirable to have a measure that enables safer andeasier addition of a credit settlement function to a portableinformation terminal. The present invention is accomplished in view ofthese circumstances.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided afirst communication system, which includes a settlement managementapparatus that includes judging means for judging whether or notidentification information assigned to a user of the portableinformation terminal and used for predetermined settlement is valid forusing credit services which the user uses, and a storage controller forstoring, the identification information in the portable informationterminal if the judging means decides that the identificationinformation is valid.

The first communication system of the present embodiment may furtherincludes a portable information terminal that includes a reader forreading the identification information from an IC chip provided in acredit card issued from an issuer providing the credit services throughwireless communication, and storing means for transmitting theidentification information read by the reader to the settlementmanagement apparatus and for storing the identification informationbased on an instruction issued by the settlement management apparatus ifit is confirmed that the identification information is valid.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a second communication system, which includes a settlementmanagement apparatus that includes judging means for judging whether ornot identification information assigned to a user of the portableinformation terminal and used for predetermined settlement is valid forusing credit services which the user uses, and a storage controller forstoring, if the judging means decides that the identificationinformation is valid, the identification information in the portableinformation terminal.

The second communication system of the present embodiment may furtherincludes a portable information terminal that includes a transmitter fortransmitting user identifying information, according to which a user isidentified, to the settlement management apparatus, and storing meansfor storing the identification information provided by the settlementmanagement apparatus if the identification information managed by thesettlement management apparatus in such a way as to be associated withthe user identifying information transmitted by the transmitter isdecided to be valid.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a settlement management apparatus, which includes judging meansfor judging whether or not identification information assigned to a userof a portable information terminal and used for predetermined settlementis valid for using credit services which the user uses, and a storagecontroller for storing, if the judging means decides that theidentification information is valid, the identification information inthe portable information terminal.

In the settlement management apparatus of the present embodiment, thejudging means may decide whether or not the identification informationread and provided through wireless communication from an IC chipprovided in a credit card issued by an issuer for providing the creditservices is valid.

The settlement management apparatus of the present embodiment mayfurther include a manager for managing the identification information insuch a way as to be associated with user identifying informationaccording to which the user is identified. In this settle managementapparatus, the judging means may associate the identificationinformation with the user identifying information transmitted from theportable information terminal and decides whether or not theidentification information managed by the manager is valid.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a settlement management method that includes a judging step ofjudging whether or not identification information assigned to a user ofa portable information terminal and used for predetermined settlement isvalid for using credit services which the user uses, and a storagecontrol step of storing, if it is decided in the judging step that theidentification information is valid, the identification information inthe portable information terminal.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a first program includes a judging step of judging whether ornot identification information assigned to a user of a portableinformation terminal and used for predetermined settlement is valid forusing credit services which the user uses, and a storage control step ofstoring, if it is decided in the judging step that the identificationinformation is valid, the identification information in the portableinformation terminal.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a first portable information terminal that includes a readerfor reading identification information, which is assigned to a user andused for predetermined settlement, from an IC chip provided in a creditcard issued from an issuer providing credit services which the useruses, through wireless communication, and storing means for transmittingthe identification information read by the reader to a settlementmanagement apparatus, which manages settlement to be performed accordingto the identification information, and for storing the identificationinformation based on an instruction issued by the settlement managementapparatus if it is confirmed that the identification information isvalid.

The first portable information terminal of the present embodiment mayfurther include acquisition means for acquiring a predeterminedapplication provided from the settlement management apparatus, and acontroller, implemented by the application acquired by the acquisitionmeans, for controlling encrypting and/or decoding of communicationperformed between the settlement management apparatus and the terminal.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a first information processing method that includes a readingstep of reading identification information, which is assigned to a userand used for predetermined settlement, from an IC chip provided in acredit card issued from an issuer providing credit services which theuser uses, through wireless communication, and a storing step oftransmitting the identification information read in the reading step toa settlement management apparatus, which manages settlement to beperformed according to the identification information, and for storingthe identification information based on an instruction issued by thesettlement management apparatus if it is confirmed that theidentification information is valid.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a second program that includes a reading step of readingidentification information, which is assigned to a user and used forpredetermined settlement, from an IC chip provided in a credit cardissued from an issuer providing credit services which the user uses,through wireless communication, and a storing step of transmitting theidentification information read in the reading step to a settlementmanagement apparatus, which manages settlement to be performed accordingto the identification information, and for storing the identificationinformation based on an instruction issued by the settlement managementapparatus if it is confirmed that the identification information isvalid.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a second portable information terminal that includes atransmitter for transmitting user identifying information, according towhich a user is identified, to a settlement management apparatus, whichmanages settlement to be performed according to identificationinformation assigned to the user by using predetermined credit serviceswhich the user uses, and storing means for storing the identificationinformation provided by the settlement management apparatus if theidentification information managed by the settlement managementapparatus in such a way as to be associated with the user identifyinginformation transmitted by the transmitter is decided to be valid.

The second portable information terminal of the present embodiment mayfurther include acquisition means for acquiring a predeterminedapplication provided from the settlement management apparatus, and acontroller, implemented by the application acquired by the acquisitionmeans, for controlling encrypting or decoding of communication performedbetween the settlement management apparatus and the terminal.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a second information processing method that includes atransmitting step of transmitting user identifying information,according to which a user is identified, to a settlement managementapparatus, which manages settlement to be performed according toidentification information assigned to the user by using predeterminedcredit services which the user uses, and storing means for storing theidentification information provided by the settlement managementapparatus if the identification information managed by the settlementmanagement apparatus in such a way as to be associated with the useridentifying information transmitted in the transmitting step is decidedto be valid.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a third program that includes a transmitting step oftransmitting user identifying information, according to which a user isidentified, to a settlement management apparatus, which managessettlement to be performed according to identification informationassigned to the user by using predetermined credit services which theuser uses, and a storing step of storing the identification informationprovided by the settlement management apparatus if the identificationinformation managed by the settlement management apparatus in such a wayas to be associated with the user identifying information transmitted inthe transmitting step is decided to be valid.

In the settlement management apparatus of the first communication systemof the present embodiment, the judging means judges whether or notidentification information assigned to a user of the portableinformation terminal and used for predetermined settlement is valid forusing credit services which the user uses. If the judging means decidesthat the identification information is valid, the storage controllercauses the portable information terminal to store the identificationinformation. In the portable information terminal, the reader read theidentification information from an IC chip provided in a credit cardissued from an issuer providing the credit services through wirelesscommunication. The storing means transmits the read identificationinformation to the settlement management apparatus. If it is confirmedthat the identification information is valid, the storing means storesthe identification information based on an instruction issued by thesettlement management apparatus.

In the second communication system of the present embodiment, thejudging means judges whether or not identification information assignedto a user of the portable information terminal and used forpredetermined settlement is valid for using credit services to which theuser join. If the judging means decides that the identificationinformation is valid, the storage controller causes the portableinformation terminal to store the identification information. In theportable information terminal, the transmitter transmits useridentifying information, according to which a user is identified, to thesettlement management apparatus. If the identification informationmanaged by the settlement management apparatus in such a way as to beassociated with the user identifying information transmitted by thetransmitter is decided to be valid, the storing means stores theidentification information provided by the settlement managementapparatus.

In the settlement management apparatus, the settlement management methodand the program according to the present embodiments, it is judgedwhether or not identification information assigned to a user of aportable information terminal and used for predetermined settlement isvalid for using credit services which the user uses. If the it isdecided that the identification information is valid, the identificationinformation is stored in the portable information terminal.

In the first portable information terminal, the information processingmethod and the program of the present embodiments, identificationinformation, which is assigned to a user and used for predeterminedsettlement, is read from an IC chip provided in a credit card issuedfrom an issuer providing credit services which the user uses, throughwireless communication. The identification information read istransmitted to a settlement management apparatus, which managessettlement to be performed according to the identification information.The identification information is stored based on an instruction issuedby the settlement management apparatus if it is confirmed that theidentification information is valid.

In the second portable information terminal, the information processingmethod and the program according to the present embodiments, useridentifying information, according to which a user is identified, istransmitted to a settlement management apparatus, which managessettlement to be performed according to identification informationassigned to the user by using predetermined credit services which theuser uses. The identification information provided by the settlementmanagement apparatus is stored if the identification information managedby the settlement management apparatus in such a way as to be associatedwith the user identifying information transmitted is decided to bevalid.

According to the above-described embodiments of the present invention,safer settlement may be achieved by using a portable informationterminal.

Further, according to the above-described embodiments of the presentinvention, addition of settlement services to a portable informationterminal is more safely and easily achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent in light of the following detaileddescription of a best mode embodiment thereof, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation to beperformed when a merchandise is ordered;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating examples of advertising media;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating an operation of registering acard ID in a mobile phone;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of asales system to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a detailed configurationof each of a settlement management company and a member store;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconstitution of a management system shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration ofa mobile phone;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconstitution of a mobile phone;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of areas formed in a memory;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration ofa personal computer;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of registering a cardID in a mobile phone;

FIGS. 12A to 12D are diagrams illustrating an example of a statetransition of a memory;

FIG. 13 is a table illustrating an example of information registered ina member master file;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating another operation of registering acard ID in a mobile phone;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating merchandise information;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a merchandiseregistration screen;

FIG. 17 is a table illustrating an example of information registered ina merchandise master file;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a merchandise ordering process;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of an ordering site screen;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of operations to deliveryof a merchandise;

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of indication of an orderacknowledgement mail;

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating contact relations and money transfersin a sales system to which the present invention is applied; and

FIGS. 23A and 23B are diagrams illustrating other examples ofadvertising media.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation to beperformed in a sales system, to which the present invention is applied,if a merchandise is ordered.

In the sales system to which the present invention is applied, a usercan place an order of a desired merchandize (a purchase order thereof oran advance order thereof) by using a mobile phone 1 from a place wherethe user has gone, or from the user's home.

More specifically, the user can place an order of a merchandizeassociated with a two-dimensional barcode, an image of which is taken bya camera 12 provided in the mobile phone 1. The two-dimensional barcodeis issued by, for example, a company that manages the sales system. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the two-dimensional barcode is printed on variousadvertising media, such as an advertisement poster in a train, newspaperand magazine advertisements, and mail-order catalogs.

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing an example of an advertisement poster in atrain. FIG. 2B is a diagram showing an example of a magazineadvertisement. As shown in these figures, two-dimensional barcodes areprinted at predetermined places, such as those around pictures anddescriptions of merchandizes.

An advertisement poster shown in a left side part of FIG. 2A relates toa digital camera, while an advertisement poster shown in a right sidepart thereof relates to a personal computer. In the case illustrated inFIG. 2A, each of two-dimensional barcodes 21A and 21B embedded with anaddress (a URL (Uniform Resource Locator)) of an ordering site, at whicha procedure of ordering an associated one of merchandizes described inthe advertisements can be done, is printed at a rightwardly lower partof an associated one of the advertisements, as viewed in this figure.

Therefore, if seeing the left-side advertisement shown in FIG. 2A andpurchasing the digital camera, a user can cause the mobile phone 1 todisplay an ordering site screen therein by taking an image of thetwo-dimensional barcode 21A. Further, the user can cause the mobilephone 1 to display an ordering site screen for ordering the personalcomputer by taking an image of the two-dimensional barcode 21B printedon the right-side advertisement poster.

Similarly, the user can cause the mobile phone 1 to display an orderingsite screen, which is used for ordering a television set described in anadvertisement published in a magazine shown in FIG. 2B, therein by usinga two-dimensional barcode 22 printed thereon. Thus, for instance, asingle two-dimensional barcode is associated with a single merchandize.

That is, in the mobile phone 1, analysis is performed on the taken imageof the two-dimensional barcode if the user designates an access to theordering site. Thus, the user obtains URL represented by a monochromepattern. Then, an access to an ordering site designated by the obtainedURL is made thorough a mobile phone network.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, a URL “http://www.mobile.com/abcshop” 31is obtained from the taken image of the two-dimensional barcode. Anaccess to an ordering site designated by the URL 31 is instructed by afirst click. In response to this, the ordering site screen is displayedin a display unit 11 of the mobile phone 1, as indicated by a reversearrow.

For example, an ordering button 32 to be operated to order a merchandizeis displayed in the ordering site screen together with merchandizeinformation on the name of a member store (a company, a shop or the likeaffiliated to a service of purchase of merchandizes using a mobilephone), a merchandize name, a size, a color, a unit price, and so on, insuch a way as to be able to depress an operating button 13 by a singleoperation (or click).

Thus, after taking an image of the two-dimensional barcode 21, the usercan cause the mobile phone 1 to display the ordering site screen forperforming the predetermined merchandise purchase procedure by a firstclick (a single operation of the operating button 13), and also canorder a merchandize by a second click.

Information on the merchandise ordered by the user, and information onsettlement for the merchandize are transmitted to a settlementmanagement company 51 for managing the sales system (see FIG. 4). Forinstance, merchandize identification information and informationrepresenting the number of the merchandizes are transmitted as theinformation on the merchandize. Identification information representinga card ID issued by the company 51 that provides credit services, amember of which the user has become, is automatically transmitted as theinformation on the settlement, independent of the user's inputoperation. It is, therefore, necessary to register the card ID of theuser's credit card in the mobile phone 1 before the user uses this salessystem.

FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation ofregistering the card ID in the mobile phone 1.

As illustrated in FIG. 3A, the registration of the card ID in the mobilephone 1 is performed by, for example, placing the user's credit card 41over the mobile phone 1 according to a predetermined prompt.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the user brings a contactless IC card reader/writerchip 171 (see FIG. 7), which is built into the mobile phone 1, close toa contactless IC chip 41A provided in the credit card 41. For instance,as shown in FIG. 3B, a mark 1B indicating the presence of thecontactless IC card reader/writer chip 171 in the mobile phone 1 isprinted on a part of a surface (in this case, a lower rear surface) of acasing of the mobile phone 1 so that this part corresponds to a place inwhich the contactless IC card reader/writer chip 171 is incorporated.The user register the card ID by bring this mark 1B to the contactlessIC chip 41A. A1

When the user brings the mark 1B (corresponding to the contactless ICcard reader/writer chip 171) close to the contactless IC chi 41A, thecard ID stored in the contactless IC chip 41A provided in the creditcard 41 is read by the contactless IC card reader/writer chip 171through wireless communication. Subsequently, the read card ID istransmitted from the mobile phone 1 to a predetermined system providedin the settlement management company 51 through the mobile phonenetwork. Then, the card ID is registered in the contactless IC cardreader/writer chip 171 of the mobile phone 1 according to an instructionissued from the system after authentication of the card ID. In thesystem of the settlement management company 51, information on the cardnumber, the expiration date, the user name and so on of the credit card41 is managed by being associated with the card ID.

In this system, for security reasons, the credit card number is notdirectly stored in the credit card 41. Thus, information converted tothe card ID is read to the mobile phone 1. However, if the credit cardnumber is directly stored in the card, the credit card number may beread.

Thus, the user can pay for the purchased merchandise by using the mobilephone 1 as a family card of his credit card 41. An operation ofregistering a card ID read from the contactless IC chip 41A of thecredit card 41 will be described in detail later.

FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating another example of an operation ofregistering a card ID in the mobile phone 1. In this example, theregistration of the card ID is performed by inserting a SIM (SubscriberIdentity Module) card 42 into a slot 1A formed in a rear surface portionof the mobile phone 1. The slot 1A appears if, for example, apredetermined lid member is removed therefrom. FIG. 3B shows an externalview thereof.

When the SIM card 42 is inserted into the slot 1A, the card ID stored inthe chip 42A, which is provided in the SIM card 42, is read by themobile phone 1 and then stored in the memory of the mobile phone 1.

Thus, the card ID may be registered in the mobile phone 1 by performingeither a contactless-type registration operation (see FIG. 3A) or acontact-type registration operation (see FIG. 3B).

The user can access directly the predetermined ordering site, which isassociated with the purchased merchandise, according to thetwo-dimensional barcode, whose image is taken by the camera 12 of themobile phone 1, and perform a settlement process by using the card IDregistered in the mobile phone 1 in the above-mentioned manner withoutperforming a search therefor through a search page. Consequently, theuser can easily perform a merchandise ordering procedure without spatialconstraints.

Further, the user can readily apply purchase of the merchandize. Thus, adealer of the merchandize can anticipate increase in sales of themerchandize and thus can make a profit by selling the merchandizes.

Furthermore, in the example of FIG. 1, when the user inputs amerchandise code 24 of a merchandize shown on a TV shopping program, theaddress of an ordering site is searched for according to the merchandisecode 24. Then, an access to the ordering site is automatically madeaccording to the obtained address. Thus, the user can cause the mobilephone 1 to display an ordering site screen by a very simple operation,for example, only by entering a number consisting of a predeterminednumber of digits.

In this case, the corresponding relation between the merchandise code 24and the address of the ordering site is managed by, for instance, asystem of the settlement management company 51.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of asales system to which the present invention is applied. Each ofcomponents, which are the same as those of FIG. 1, is designated by thesame reference numeral as that used for designating a correspondingcomponent of FIG. 1.

The settlement management company 51 has a card management system 61, amerchandise master file 62, a management system 63, and a member masterfile 64, and manages primary entry of orders of merchandizes andsettlements.

The card management system 61 provides the mobile phone 1 with a mobilesettlement application for utilizing this sales system, and also managescard IDs stored in the contactless IC card reader/writer chip of themobile phone 1. Operations of downloading of the mobile settlementapplication (to the mobile phone 1) and of writing the card IDs areperformed through a mobile phone network 52, as indicated by brokenlines.

The merchandize master file 62 manages information on merchandizes to besold to users. As will be described later, merchandize informationmanaged by the merchandize master file 62 is registered by a memberstore (a manufacturer or a dealer), which is a distribution source. Thatis, the settlement management company 51 has a role of intermediatingbetween member stores, which serve as clients asking for sales ofmerchandizes, and users.

The management system 63 manages various kinds of processing, such asentries of orders by users (the mobile phones 1) and placements oforders to member stores by a mail-order company 53, a digital contentprovider 54, a manufacturer 55, and so on. A3

For example, if identification information of an ordered merchandize andinformation representing a card ID are transmitted from the mobile phone1, the management system 63 acquires merchandize information on thedistribution source for selling the merchandize and on the price of themerchandize from the merchandize master file 62 according to theidentification information of the merchandize. The management system 63obtains attribute information on the card number and the expiration dateof the user's credit card from the member master file 64 according tothe card ID. The management system 63 appropriately order information,which includes attribute information, to the mail-order company 53, thedigital content provider 54, and the manufacturer 55, and asks forshipping the merchandize. The order information transmitted from themanagement system 63 includes shipping address information, informationrepresenting a merchandize code, a result of checking credit (anauthorization result), and an order entry number.

The member master file 64 manages attribute information (credit serviceinformation), which represents the card number of the credit card issuedto the user having the mobile phone 1, by associating the card numberwith the card ID. The attribute information managed by the member masterfile 64 may be registered by the user. Alternatively, the attributeinformation may be obtained from a database of a credit service company.For instance, if the settlement management company 51 performs also acredit card issuance service, the attribute information on the cardnumber and so on is obtained from the database.

FIG. 4 shows the mail-order company 53, the digital content provider 54,and the manufacturer 55 as the member stores of the sales system managedby the settlement management company 51. These member stores performinventory check, order entry, and merchandize dispatch arrangement.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a more detailconfiguration of each of systems provided in the settlement managementcompany 51 and the member store 111 (the mail-order company 53, thedigital content provider 54, the manufacturer 55 or the like).

An application management server 81 of the card management system 61 ofthe settlement management company 51 manages downloading of the mobilesettlement application, and also provides the mobile settlementapplication to the mobile phone 1 through a base station 71 and themobile phone network 52. The application management server 81 has anauthentication section 91, which checks the validity of the card ID andperforms user authentication according to a password and ID.

A secure server 82 performs encrypted communication with a secure client202 (see FIG. 8), which is implemented in the mobile phone 1, accordingto a predetermined protocol by being coupled with HTTP (Hyper TextTransfer Protocol) communication. After communication by the secureserver 82 is established, writing of information by a SAM (SecureApplication Module) 83 to the contactless IC card reader/writer chip 171is enabled.

After the authentication and so forth of the contactless IC cardreader/writer chip 171 (see FIG. 7) are performed, the SAM 83 generatesa predetermined command and performs reading of information stored inthe contactless IC card reader/writer chip 171 and writing ofinformation thereto. The writing of data to the contactless IC cardreader/writer chip 171 is enabled only by a device provided with amodule having a function similar to that of the SAM 83.

The mobile settlement system 101 includes the merchandise master file62, the management system 63 and the member master file 64.

The merchandise master file 62 stores merchandise informationtransmitted from a browser 131 of an order entry/orderplacement/inventory management system 121, which is provided in themember store 111. That is, each of the member stores can registerinformation on the merchandise, the sales of which is asked for to thesettlement management company 51, from a screen displayed by thebrowser.

If an employee instructs the order entry/order placement/inventorymanagement system 121 to access a merchandise information registrationsite managed by the management system 63, the system 121 accesses theregistration site. Then, the system 121 causes the browser to display aregistration site screen. Subsequently, the order entry/orderplacement/inventory management system 121 transmits the merchandiseinformation, which is inputted to the screen, to the management system63 thereby to register the merchandise information therein.

The order entry/order placement/inventory management system 121 receivesorder information transmitted from the management system 63 and performsa predetermined order entry process and a predetermined process ofshipping a merchandise 73. For example, the order entry/orderplacement/inventory management system 121 transmits an orderacknowledgement mail 72 to the mobile phone 1 form a mail server 122,and manages the inventory of the merchandise as the order entry process.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconstitution of a management system 63 shown in FIG. 4 or 5.

A merchandize information registration section 141 receives themerchandize information transmitted from the browser 131 of the orderentry/order placement/inventory management system 121 and then registersthe received merchandize information in the merchandise master file 62.The merchandize information registered in the merchandize master file 62by the merchandize information registration section 141 is appropriatelyoutputted to a two-dimensional barcode generator 142 and an orderingsite management section 143.

The two-dimensional barcode generator 142 generates a graphic image of atwo-dimensional barcode designating URL of an ordering site in responseto fact that the merchandize information is registered and the orderingsite for the merchandise is provided by the order entry/orderplacement/inventory management system 121. The two-dimensional barcodegenerated by the two-dimensional barcode generator 142 is issued to themember store 111 and an advertising agent for advertising themerchandize provided by the member store 111 as a representative.

The ordering site management section 143 provides an ordering site, atwhich an ordering merchandize procedure can be performed, in response tothe registration of merchandise information. If an order of amerchandise is placed by a user having accessed the ordering site, theordering site management section 143 acquires detail information on themerchandize from the merchandize master file 62 simultaneously with theorder placement according to merchandise identification informationtransmitted from the mobile phone 1. Then, the ordering site managementsection 143 outputs the acquired merchandize information to an orderentry section 144, and also outputs the card ID transmitted from themobile phone 1 to the order entry section 144.

The order entry section 144 obtains attribute information concerning thecard number, the expiration date, and the issuer of the user's creditcard from the member master file 64 according to the card ID suppliedfrom the ordering site management section 143, and checks credit, ifnecessary. If the checking of credit is successful, the order entrysection 144 outputs the merchandise information supplied from theordering site management section 143 together with the attributeinformation, and asks an order placement section 145 for placement of anorder of the merchandise to the member store 111.

The order placement section 145 transmits the order information to themember store 111 and asks the member store 111 for shipping of themerchandise.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration ofthe mobile phone 1.

A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 168 loads a control program, which isstored in a ROM (Read-Only Memory) 169, into a RAM (Random AccessMemory) 170, and controls an operation of the entire mobile phone 1according to the control program. For instance, the CPU 168 controls aDSP (Digital Signal Processor) 164 according to an instruction issuedfrom the user and also controls communication performed through the basestation 71 and the mobile phone network 52.

A transmitter 162 and a receiver 163 perform communication pursuant to,for example, a PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) system or a W-CDMA(Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access) system.

If audio information is supplied from the DSP 164, the transmitter 162performs predetermined processes, such as an analog-to-digitalconversion and a frequency conversion, and then transmits obtained audiosignals from an antenna 161 through a radio channel having apredetermined transmission carrier frequency, which is selected by thebase station 71.

The receiver 163 amplifies RF signals received by the antenna 161, forinstance, in an audio call mode, and performs predetermined processes,such as a frequency conversion and an analog-to-digital conversion.Subsequently, the receiver 163 outputs obtained audio information to aDSP 164.

The DSP 164 performs, for instance, spectrum dispreading on the audioinformation supplied from the receiver 163, and subsequently outputsobtained data to an audio processor 165. The DSP 164 also performsspectrum spreading on the audio information supplied from the audioprocessor 165, and then outputs obtained data to the transmitter 162.

The audio processor 165 converts voices of the user, which are collectedby a microphone 167, into audio information, and outputs the audioinformation to the DSP 164. The audio processor 165 converts the audioinformation, which is supplied from the DSP 164, into analog audiosignals, and outputs associated audio signals from a speaker 166.

The display unit 11 includes a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). Accordingto information supplied from the CPU 168, the display unit 11 displaysan associated screen.

The camera 12 takes an image under the control of the CPU 168 andoutputs the taken image to the CPU 168.

The input unit 13 detects an input to a numeric keypad, and variousbuttons, such as a talk button and a power button, which are provided ona surface of a casing of the mobile phone, and outputs an associatedsignal to the CPU 168.

The contactless IC card reader/writer chip 171 is a one-chip moduleimplementing the functions of serving as a contactless IC card for theexternal reader/writer, and of serving as a reader/writer for theexternal contactless IC card.

For example, if the function of a contactless IC card is available, thecontactless IC card reader/writer chip 171 performs communication withthe external reader/writer in a contactless manner, and providespredetermined information saved in the memory 181. On the other hand, ifthe function of serving as a reader/writer is available, the contactlessIC card reader/writer chip 171 performs communication with thecontactless IC card, which is provided in the credit card placed over(or brought close to) the mobile phone 1, in a contactless manner andalso performs reading and writing of various kinds of information savedin the memory of the contactless IC card.

Furthermore, although FIG. 7 shows only one antenna 182, the mobilephone may be provided with an antenna, which is used if the contactlessIC card reader/writer chip 171 functions as a contactless IC card, andanother antenna, which is used if the contactless IC card reader/writerchip 171 functions as a reader/writer.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconstitution of the mobile phone 1.

Functional sections shown in FIG. 8 are implemented by executingpredetermined programs by the CPU 168 and a CPU (not shown) of thecontactless IC card reader/writer chip 171. For instance, an imageanalyzer 191, a communication controller 192, an imaging controller 193,and a display controller 194 are implemented by executing a mobilesettlement application downloaded from the application management server81.

The image analyzer 191 analyzes a monochrome pattern of thetwo-dimensional barcode supplied from an imaging controller 193, andobtains a URL included in the two-dimensional barcode. The URL obtainedby the image analyzer 191 is outputted to a communication controller192.

The communication controller 192 controls the transmitter 162 and thereceiver 163 and performs HTTP communication with the card managementsystem 61 of the settlement management company 51 by using the browser201. The communication controller 192 also controls encryption anddecoding of communication between the secure sever 82 and the secureclient 202.

The display controller 194 controls indication displayed in the displayunit 11. For example, the display controller 194 causes the display unit11 to display the ordering site screen accessed by analyzing thetwo-dimensional barcode.

A contactless IC card controller 211 of a chip controller 195 implementsthe function of serving as a contactless IC card by controlling thecontactless IC card reader/writer chip 171. For instance, thecontactless IC card controller 211 provides the information stored inthe memory 181 in response to a request from an external reader/writer.The reader/writer controller 212 implements the function of serving as acontactless IC card reader/writer and manages data stored in an externalcontactless IC card.

A memory manager 213 manages reading of the information stored in thememory 181 and writing thereof to the memory 181.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the memory 181 managed bythe memory manager 213.

As shown in this figure, a common area 181A and an individually allottedarea 181B are formed in the memory 181. The common area 181A is formedso that each of applications utilizing the contactless IC cardreader/writer chip 171 can freely form a region in which data is stored.The individually allotted area 181B is formed in such a way as to bepreliminarily and exclusively allotted to a predetermined company, suchas a carrier of the mobile phone 1.

For example, information representing a card ID and so forth is storedin the common area 181A according to an instruction from the SAM 83 ofthe card management system 61. If the settlement management company 51also performs issuance of electronic money, electronic money informationand the like is stored in the common area 181A according to aninstruction from SAM 233 of the electronic money management system 181for managing the issuance thereof.

On the other hand, for instance, for example, information supplied fromservice providers, which are managed by the carrier of the mobile phone1, is stored in the individually allotted area 181B.

Furthermore, as above-mentioned, only a system having a secure servercan perform encrypted communication between this system and the secureclient 202 of the mobile phone 1. Additionally, only a system having aSAM can write predetermined information to the memory 181. Therefore,the settlement management company 51 may offer a pay service (acommunication representative service) of providing a communicationmanagement system, which includes an application management system 251,a secure server 252, and SAM 253, to service providers 201A to 201C.

Returning to the description of FIG. 8, a communication controller 214controls a load on the antenna 182 according to instructions from thecontactless IC card controller 211 and the reader/writer controller 212.The communication controller 214 also controls short-range radiocommunication between an external reader/writer and an externalcontactless IC card.

Each of the systems shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 other than the mobile phone 1is implemented by, for example, a single personal computer, asillustrated in FIG. 10, or by cooperation of a plurality of personalcomputers.

A CPU 261 performs various processes according to programs loaded from amemory 268 to RAM 263. Data needed for performing the various processesby the CPU 261 is appropriately stored in the RAM 263.

The CPU 261, the ROM 262, and the RAM 263 are connected to one anotherthrough a bus 264. This bus 264 is connected to an input/outputinterface 265.

The input/output interface 265 is connected to the input unit 266, whichincludes a keyboard and a mouse, the output unit 267, which isconstituted by a display such as an LCD, the storage 268, which isconstituted by a hard disk or the like, and a communication unit 269.The communication unit 269 performs communication through a network.

The input/output interface 265 is connected to a drive 270, ifnecessary. In this drive, a magnetic disk 271, an optical disk 272, amagnetooptical disk 273, a semiconductor memory 274 or the like isappropriately mounted. A computer program is installed in the storage268, if necessary.

Hereinafter, the configuration shown in FIG. 10 is properly referred toas the configuration of each of the systems shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

Next, an operation of the sales system having the above-mentionedconfiguration is described hereinbelow.

First, an operation of registering a card ID in the mobile phone 1 isdescribed hereunder by referring to a flowchart of FIG. 11.

The CPU 168 of the mobile phone 1 activates the browser 201 by aninstruction from a user in step S1. After the browser 201 is activated,in step S2, the communication controller 192 accesses an ordering sitemanaged by the application management server 81 (see FIG. 5) of the cardmanagement system 61 through the base station 71 and the mobile phonenetwork 52. Then, the communication controller 192 requests registrationof the card ID.

The application management server 81 receives the request from themobile phone 1 in step S21. Then, the operation advances to step S22,whereupon the downloading of the mobile settlement application iscommenced.

The mobile phone 1 receives the mobile settlement application, which isdownloaded from the application management server 81, in step S3. Uponcompletion of downloading, the operation proceeds to step S4, whereuponthe mobile settlement application is activated. Thus, the secure client202 is implemented in the mobile phone 1, so that secure communicationis realized between the secure client 202 and the secure server 82 ofthe card management system 61.

In step S5, the display controller 194 causes the display unit 11 todisplay a screen prompting a user to place a credit card over the mobilephone 1 (the contactless IC card reader/writer chip 171).

At that time, the screen also prompts the user to input a PIN (PersonalIdentification Number) preliminarily assigned to the user. Thecommunication controller 192 causes the transmitter 162 to transmit thePIN, which is inputted in response to the prompting, to the applicationmanagement server 81.

In step S23, authentication of the PIN is performed by the applicationmanagement server 81 having received the PIN transmitted from the mobilephone 1. If the authentication is successful, a subsequent process isperformed.

After the PIN is transmitted and the authentication thereof isperformed, the reader/writer controller 212 controls the contactless ICcard reader/writer chip 171 and starts searching for (or polling) thecontactless IC card provided in the credit card.

According to the prompt displayed in the display unit 11, the userplaces his credit card 41 over (or brings the credit card 41 close to)the mobile phone 1 as illustrated in FIG. 3A. Thus, the card ID storedin the contactless IC card 41A is read by the contactless IC cardreader:/writer chip 171.

If detecting that the credit card 41 is brought close to the mobilephone, the reader/writer controller 212 reads a card ID, which is storedin the contactless IC card 41A, in step S7. The card ID read by thereader/writer controller 212 is outputted to the secure client 202.

In step S8, the secure client 202 transmits the card ID to the cardmanagement system 61 and requests the system 61 to write the card ID tothe memory 181.

In step S24, the authentication section 91 of the card management system61 receives the card ID transmitted from the mobile phone 1.Furthermore, the card ID is encrypted by the secure client 202 of themobile phone 1, and transmitted therefrom. Thereafter, the transmittedcard ID is decoded by the secure server 82. Other information isencrypted, transmitted and received by the secure server 82 and thesecure client 202, if necessary.

Further, in step S24, the authentication section 91 decides according toinformation stored in a database (not shown) of a credit card companywhether or not the card ID transmitted from the mobile phone 1 is valid.Furthermore, the system may be adapted to request the user of the mobilephone 1 to input a password and ID, and to then check the validity ofthe validity of the card ID according to information on the password andso forth inputted in response to the request.

If the authentication section 9 confirms that the card ID is valid, theSAM 83 of the card management system 61 transmits a command, whichinstructs the mobile phone 1 to create an area for registering the cardID and to register a service in the created area, through the secureserver 82 in step S25. Furthermore, the command to be transmitted toinstruct the mobile phone 1 to register the service includes, forexample, a service name and identification information of a creditservice provided by an issuer of the credit card, which is placed by theuser places over the mobile phone 1.

The secure client 202 of the mobile phone 1 receives the commandtransmitted from the SAM 83 and outputs the received command to thememory manager 213 in step S9. The memory manager 213 creates an area (acard area), in which the card ID is registered, in the common area 181Aof the memory 181 and registers the service therein according to thesupplied command in step S10.

Upon completion of creating the card area and registering the service,in step S11, the secure client 202 request the card management system 61to write the card ID to the card area.

In step S26, the request from the mobile phone 1 is received by the SAM83 of the card management system 61. The SAM 83 generates a command towrite the card ID in the card area created in the memory 181 of themobile phone 1. Then, the operation advances to step S27, whereupon theSAM 83 transmits the command to the mobile phone 1.

The command transmitted from the SAM 83 is received by the secure client202 and outputted to the memory manager 213 in step S12. The memorymanager 213 registers the card ID of the credit card, the registrationof which is instructed, in step S13 according to the command, which istransmitted from the SAM 83, by associating the card ID with the serviceregistered in step S10.

Further, the memory manager 203 registers information concerning theexpiration date of the card ID (or the credit card) in the memory 181together with the card ID, if necessary.

FIGS. 12A to 12D are diagrams illustrating an example of a statetransition of the memory 181.

FIG. 12A shows a state of the memory 181 at shipment thereof. The commonarea 181A is activated, for instance, at a moment (see FIG. 12B), atwhich the command to create the card area and to register the service istransmitted thereto from the SAM 83. Subsequently, the card area 281 iscreated (see FIG. 12C).

After the card area 281 is created, information on the credit serviceand the card ID are registered in the card area 281, as shown in FIG.12D. In a case of an example shown in FIG. 12D, the service name“SERVICE A” and the card ID “0001” are written to the card area 281.

Upon completion of writing the card ID thereto, in step S14, the secureclient 202 notifies the card management system 61 of normal completionof writing the card ID thereto.

The management system 63 having received the notification from themobile phone 1 in step S28 registers information representing the userof the mobile phone 1 in the member master file 64 as information on amember of the sales system, and then finish the operation.

FIG. 13 is a table illustrating an example of information registered inthe member master file 64.

For example, information on the card ID, the card number, the issuer,the expiration date of the credit card, and the member's name, address,and mail-address is registered as information on members of the salessystem.

Thus, the address, the mail-address and so on of each of members arepreliminarily registered in the member master file 64. Therefore, theuser can use the registered address as a shipping address of themerchandise without inputting information on these items at eachpurchase of a merchandise. Further, the user can use the registeredmail-address as a destination address of a confirmation mail from themember store 111.

Furthermore, in the example illustrated in FIG. 13, the card number“0000-0000-0000-000”, the issuer “JCC”, the expiration date “May 2005(May 2005)”, the member name “YAMADA”, the member address “TOKYO”, themember mail-address “YAMADA@A.co.jp” of the user's credit card areregistered by being associated with the card ID “0001” thereof.Similarly, information on other members is registered. Information onthe shipping address and so on is registered by the user by postal mailor through the encrypted communication between the secure server 82 andthe secure client 202.

Thus, the card information is registered by the SAM 83 of the cardmanagement system 61 after the system confirms that the user of themobile phone 1 is a contractant of a contract for credit services (anauthorized credit card user) or that the card ID is valid. This canprevent occurrence of a dishonest act, such as spoofing. If the usercould register the card ID directly in his mobile phone, he couldregister the card IDs of other users' credit cards therein and alsocould easily perform dishonest acts, such as spoofing. However, theabove-mentioned operation prevents occurrences of dishonest acts.

Moreover, encryption based on key information managed by the secureserver 82 and the secure client 202 is performed on informationtransmitted and received between the mobile phone 1 and the cardmanagement system 61. This can prevent leakage of card IDs and so on.

Additionally, the registration of the card ID can be achieved by a moreintuitive operation, such as placement of a credit card over a mobilephone. Therefore, a user can register a card ID only by inputting apassword without performing cumbersome operations.

Next, another operation of registering the card ID in the mobile phone 1is described hereinbelow with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 14.

The operation illustrated in FIG. 14 differs from that illustrated inFIG. 11 in that the settlement management company 51 acquires a card IDof a user's credit card and checks the validity thereof according topredetermined identification information transmitted from the mobilephone 1, instead of reading the card ID from the credit card andtransmitting the read cad ID to the settlement management company 51(the card management system 61).

Therefore, even If a credit card is not actually (physically) issued, ifidentification information is issued, a user can register a card ID of acredit card, which is associated with the identification information, inthe mobile phone 1.

Basically, the operation illustrated in FIG. 14 is similar to thatdescribed by referring to FIG. 11. That is, in step S40, the CPU 168activates the browser 201 in response to the instruction from the userand accesses a registering site managed by the application managementserver 81 of the card management system 61.

If accessing the registering site, an input screen for prompting theuser to input the identification information issued to the user isdisplayed in the display unit 11 of the mobile phone 1. Thus, the userinputs the identification information to the input screen.

For example, a password and a service ID, of which the user ispreliminarily informed if the credit card is issued, and a numberconsisting of digits of the predetermined number extracted from a creditcard number, and CVV (Card Verification Value) printed on the backsurface of the credit card are used as the identification information.Needless to say, all the digits of the credit card number may be used asthe identification information. However, from the viewpoint ofpreventing leakage of the credit card number, it is preferable to usethe above-mentioned password and so on.

The identification information inputted by the user is transmitted tothe card management system 61 in step S42.

The authentication section 91 of the application management server 81receives the identification information transmitted from the mobilephone 1 in step S61. Then, the operation proceeds to step S62, whereuponthe authentication section 91 acquires the card ID according to theidentification information. The card ID, which the user wishes toregister, is obtained from the member master file 64, which manages theidentification information and the card ID associated with each other,or from the predetermined database of the credit service company.

If the authentication section 91 confirms the validity of the acquiredcard ID in step S63 and also confirms that this card ID is valid, theauthentication section 91 performs the subsequent process.

Additionally, the system may prompt the user to input PIN in addition tothe identification information, and may perform authentication accordingto the inputted PIN. In this case, the communication controller 192transmits the PIN, which is inputted by the user in response to theprompting, from the transmitter 162 to the application management server81 in step S43. If the authentication performed in step S64 issuccessful, the subsequent process is performed.

After the confirmation of the validity of the card ID and theauthentication of the PIN, the application management server 81 startsdownloading the mobile settlement application in step S65.

Upon completion of downloading of the mobile settlement applicationreceived in step S44, the operation advances to step S45, whereupon theCPU 168 of the mobile phone 1 activates the mobile settlementapplication.

In step S66, the SAM 83 transmits to the mobile phone 1 a command toupdate tentative key information set in the common area 181A of thememory 181 at shipment thereof.

The memory manager 213 of the mobile phone 1 receives the command, whichis transmitted from the SAM 83, in step S46. Then, the operationproceeds to step S47, whereupon the memory manager 213 updates the keyinformation to be set in the card area.

Key information associated with the key information updated in thememory 181 of the mobile phone 1 is provided in the SAM 83 of the cardmanagement system 61. Thence, only equipment having the key informationcan read the card ID stored in the memory 181 of the mobile phone 1.

A process performed between the mobile phone 1 and each of the systemsof the settlement management company 51 subsequent to step S48 issimilar to that performed from step S9 to step 14, and steps S25 to S28.

That is, in step S67, the SAM 83 of the card management system 61transmits a command, which instructs to create an area for registeringthe card ID and to register the service in the created area, to themobile phone 1. In step S49, the memory manager 213, which obtains thiscommand in step S48, creates a card area and registers the service instep S49.

Upon completion of creating the card area and registering the service,in step S50, the secure client 202 of the mobile phone 1 requests thecard management system 61 to write the card ID in the card area. Inresponse to this request, the card ID is written to the card area 281 instep S52 according to the command transmitted from the SAM 83 of thecard management system 61.

Upon completion of writing the card ID therein, the secure client 202notifies the card management system 61 of the normal completion ofwriting of the card ID. In step S70, information on the user of themobile phone 1 is registered as information on the member of the salessystem. Thereafter, the process is finished.

As above-mentioned, even in the case that the credit card is notactually issued to the user, the user having entered into a contractwith the credit service company can register the card ID in the mobilephone 1 and also can perform credit card settlement according to theregistered card ID.

After the card ID is registered in the mobile phone 1 in theabove-mentioned manner, the user can access the ordering site associatedwith the predetermined merchandise according to the two-dimensionalbarcode, whose image is taken by the mobile phone 1, and can offer thepurchase of the merchandise, and can perform credit card settlementaccording to the card ID.

The system may be adapted so that the above registration process isrepeated, and that card IDs respectively associated with a plurality ofcredit cards are registered in the mobile phone 1. In this case, theuser selects a predetermined card ID from a plurality of card IDs, andcan perform credit card settlement for purchase of a merchandiseaccording to the selected card ID.

Next, a sequence of operations, by which merchandize information isregistered by the member store 111, is described by referring to aflowchart shown in FIG. 15.

For example, if an employee of the member store 111 instructs the systemto register the merchandize information, the CPU 261 of the orderentry/order placement/inventory management system 121 (see FIG. 10)activates the browser 131. Then, the CPU 261 advances to step S82,whereupon the CPU 261 accesses a registering site for registering themerchandise information. The merchandise information registering site ismanaged by, for instance, the merchandise information registrationsection 141 of the management system 63.

If a registration site is accessed, a merchandise registration screen isdisplayed by the browser 31 in the display unit in step S83.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of the merchandiseregistration screen.

In the merchandise registration column, various kinds of input columnsare displayed. The input columns are, for example, a merchandise nameinput column 301 in which the name of a merchandise whose sales isrequested, a merchandise code input column 302 in which the merchandisecode thereof is inputted, a unit price input column 303 in which theunit price thereof is inputted, a stock input column 304 in which thequantity of stock is inputted, and other kinds of input columns in whichinformation needed for sale and order-entry of merchandizes.

If predetermined information is inputted in the columns from themerchandize name input column 301 to the stock input column 304 and theregistration of the merchandize information is instructed by an employeeof the member store 111, the browser 131 transmits the inputtedmerchandize information to the merchandize information registrationsection 141 of the management system 63 and requests the merchandizeinformation registration section 141 to register the transmittedmerchandize information in step S84.

The merchandize information registration section 141 of the managementsystem 63 receives the request from the browser 131 in step S92. Then,the operation advances to step S93, whereupon the merchandizeinformation registration section 141 assigns a URL (or determines asURL) of an ordering site, in which the user having an access theretocan place an order, to create the ordering site. The assigned URL isoutputted to the two-dimensional barcode generator 142.

In step S94, the two-dimensional barcode generator 142 generates atwo-dimensional barcode having a predetermined size, which can beanalyzed by the mobile phone 1, by performing predetermined processing,such as scrambling, on the URL assigned by the merchandize informationregistration section 141. Further, the two-dimensional barcode generator142 issues the generated two-dimensional barcodes to a designateddestination, such as the member store 111, or the advertising agent foradvertising the merchandize to be sold by the member store 111 as arepresentative The two-dimensional barcode is acquired by the memberstore 111 or the like in step S85. Thereafter, the barcode is printed onadvertising media by a printing company.

In step S95, the merchandise information registration section 141registers the merchandise information in the merchandise master file 62.Then, the operations are finished.

The member stores perform the above-mentioned operations, so that forexample, a database as illustrated in FIG. 17 is constructed in themerchandise master file 62.

In the database shown in FIG. 17, the merchandize name of themerchandise, to which the merchandise code “001” is assigned, is“MAGAZINE A”. The price of this merchandise is “500 yen”. Thedistribution source of this “MAGAZINE A” is “BOOK STORE A”. The quantityof stock of “MAGAZINE A” is “50”. The URL of the ordering site assignedto “MAGAZINE A” is “http://WWW.mobile.com/abcshop/”. Therefore, the usertakes an image of the two-dimensional barcode embedded with this URL bya camera 12. Then, the user instructs an access to this ordering site.Thus, the user can access the ordering site in which he can perform aprocedure for purchase of “MAGAZINE A”.

In an example shown in FIG. 17, the merchandize name of a merchandize,to which a merchandize ID “002” is assigned, is “Furniture B”. The priceof the merchandize is “10000 yen”. The distributor source of “FurnitureB” is “Interior Shop B”. The quantity of stock is “10”. Additionally,the URL of an ordering site assigned to “Furniture B” is“http://WWW.mobile.com/efgshop/”.

The above-mentioned merchandize information is managed by themerchandize master file 62, and read by the ordering site managementsection 143 and so forth, if necessary. Furthermore, information onfeatures, such as colors and shapes, of merchandizes, contact addressesof member stores, and delivery companies for merchandizes is registeredin the merchandize master file 62 by an employee of the member store 111and indicated in the ordering site associated with a merchandize, ifnecessary.

As above-mentioned, merchandise information can be registered and thesales of the merchandize can be requested to the settlement managementcompany 51 from a browser, such as Internet Explorer (“InternetExplorer” is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation). Thus,even if the member store is a relatively small shop or manufacturer, thesales of merchandizes of the member store can easily be requested.

Even relatively small shops and manufacturers can be affiliated to thesettlement management company 51 as the member stores. Thus, the scaleof the sales system itself can bee settlement management company 51, sothat the sales system itself can be expanded to a large-scale system.

Next, an operation of ordering a merchandize, which is performed byusing the mobile phone 1, is described hereinbelow by referring to aflowchart of FIG. 18.

In step S111, an imaging controller 193 drives a camera 12 in responseto an imaging instruction to take an image of a two-dimensional barcode21A (see FIG. 2A) printed on an advertisement poster in a train. Theimage including the two-dimensional barcode 21A, which is taken in bythe imaging controller 193, is outputted to an image analyzer 191 and adisplay controller 194. That is, in this case, the operation of orderinga merchandize is performed in, for example, a train.

If a predetermined one of operation buttons 13 is depressed and anaccess to an ordering site of a merchandize is instructed, the imageanalyzer 191 analyzes the two-dimensional barcode, which is included inthe image supplied from the imaging controller 193, and extracts URLdesignated by the two-dimensional barcode in step S112. The imageanalyzer 191 outputs the extracted URL to a communication controller 192to thereby instruct an access to the ordering site designated by theURL.

A browser 201 of the communication controller 192 accesses the orderingsite, in which a procedure for ordering the merchandize is performedaccording to the URL supplied from the image analyzer 191, in step S113.

If accessed by the mobile phone 1 in step S131, an ordering sitemanagement section 143 of the management system 63 transmits a filerepresenting an ordering site screen in step S132.

In step S114, the display controller 194 of the mobile phone 1 causesthe display unit 11 to display the ordering site screen according to thefile transmitted from the ordering site management section 143.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of the ordering sitescreen.

The screen shown in FIG. 19 is used for performing a procedure forpurchase of a digital camera. Information on the digital camera isdisplayed on this screen. For example, if an image of thetwo-dimensional barcode printed in an advertisement poster shown in FIG.2A (a left-side advertisement poster, as viewed in this figure) is takenand an access to the ordering site is instructed, this screen isdisplayed.

In the screen shown in FIG. 19, information on the name “Somy” of themember store, which is a distribution source of the digital camera, andthe merchandize name “DSC-X”, the unit price “30000 yen”, and the number“1” of the ordered digital camera is displayed as information on themerchandize, for purchase of which a procedure can be performed. Theinformation on these items is registered by, for instance, an employeeof the member store “Somy” according to the above-mentioned processillustrated in FIG. 15.

In a lower part of the screen, a message “would you like to place anorder”, which is used for inquiring of a user whether or not he offerspurchase of the merchandize, is displayed. A purchase button 311 isdisplayed under this message. The purchase button 311 is made to beactive in such a way as to be depressed in synchronization with oneoperation of one of the operation buttons 13, which is caused by theuser. Consequently, the user can place an order of a digital camera,whose merchandize name is “DSC-X”, by operating a predetermined one ofthe operation buttons only once in a state in which the screen shown inFIG. 19 is displayed.

If the purchase button 311 is depressed and placement of an order of themerchandize is instructed, the browser 201 places an order of themerchandise designated by the user in step S115.

The ordering site management section 143 receives an order placed by themobile phone 1 in step S133, the operation advances to step S134,whereupon the ordering site management section 143 requests the mobilephone 1 to activate the mobile settlement application.

The CPU 168 receives the request from the ordering site managementsection 143 in step S116 through the receiver 163. Then, the operationproceeds to step S117, whereupon the mobile settlement applicationpreliminarily provided from the card management system 61 by performingthe process described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 14 is activated.Thus, the secure client 202 is implemented, so that encryptedcommunication between the secure client 202 and the secure server 82 ofthe card management system 61 is enabled.

If the mobile settlement application is activated, the user is promptedto input PIN. The communication controller 192 transmits the PIN, whichis inputted in response to the prompting, to the application managementserver 81 in step S118.

In step 135, the application management server 81 having received thePIN transmitted from the mobile phone 1 performs authentication of thePIN. If the authentication is successful, the subsequent process isperformed.

In step S119, the secure client 202 transmits information on the cardID, the expiration date and so on thereof, which are registered in thememory 181 by performing the process illustrated in FIG. 11 or 14, andrequests the credit card settlement according to the card ID.

In step S136, the ordering site management section 143 of the managementsystem 63 receives the information, which represents the card ID, theexpiration date and so on and is transmitted from the mobile phone 1,through the secure server 82. Then, the ordering site management section143 outputs the received information to an order entry section 144together with information on the price of the merchandise read from themerchandize master file 62.

In step S136, the order entry section 144 acquires attribute informationregistered in the member master file 64 in such a way as to beassociated with the card ID. That is, the order entry section 144acquires information representing, for instance, the card number, theissuer, and the expiration date of the credit card issued from thecompany providing the credit service, the member of which the user hasbecome, and also representing the name, the address, the mail-addressand so forth of the user, from the database constructed in the membermaster file 64 and shown in FIG. 13.

In step S137, the order entry section 144 accesses the database of thecredit service company or the bank according to information representingthe credit card number, which is obtained from the member master file64, and then perform credit-checking (authorization). If the creditchecking is successful, the order entry section 144 transmits a file,which is used for displaying a screen informing the user of completionof an order entry, to the mobile phone 1 in step S138.

Thereafter, the order entry section 144 performs settlement for themerchandize, an order of which the user has placed, in step S139. Theorder entry section 144 transmits information, which represents the cardnumber of the user's credit card and an amount of payment, to the issuerof the credit card, and also requests the issuer to deduct the paymentfrom an account designated by the user and to transfer the deductedmoney into an account of the member store 111.

Furthermore, this settlement (the request to the issuer of the creditcard) maybe performed at predetermined intervals, for example, everyday, or if the user confirms an order entry by performing a process (tobe described later). In this case, the order entry section 144 retainsinformation on the credit card number and an amount of the payment,which is acquired from the member master file 64, until the order entrysection 144 makes the requests to the issuer of the credit card.

On the other hand, in step S120, the display controller 194 receives thefile transmitted from the management system 63 through the secure client202, and causes the display unit 11 to display the screen for informingthe user of completion of order entry. The information transmitted fromthe management system 63 includes an order entry number for identifyingthe order entry performed at that time. For instance, the order entrynumber is displayed in the display unit 11. This process completes theorder entry of the merchandise by the mobile phone 1.

As above-mentioned, the user can access directly to an ordering siteassociated with a merchandize by taking an image of the two-dimensionalbarcode printed on an advertisement and then performing a predeterminedoperation, such as one-click operation. Thus, a user can casually andquickly perform order entry of a merchandize by simultaneously watchingan advertisement.

Further, the user can perform credit card settlement for purchase of amerchandize according to the card ID registered in the mobile phone 1.Thus, this embodiment can save the user's trouble of inputting the cardnumber and the expiration date of the user's credit card at eachsettlement. Moreover, this embodiment can prevent leakage of the creditcard number, which would be caused by transmitting informationrepresenting the credit card number through a network.

As compared with a conventional sales system using a mobile phone 1,which accesses a predetermined shopping site and searches for amerchandize to be purchased, and performs order entry of purchase of themerchandise, the sales system according to this embodiment can providemore detail information on a merchandise to a user, whose is a customer,by using advertising media, such as paper. That is, in the case ofadvertisement displayed on the screen of the mobile phone 1, there is alimit to information that can be provided to users. Especially, someimages displayed thereon cannot fully show the appeal of a merchandize.However, for example, advertisement posters in a train or the like canfully show the appeal of a merchandize. This can encourage users to buythe merchandize. In other words, according to this embodiment, an orderentry procedure is easy to perform. Thus, in comparison with theconventional sales system, this embodiment can increase sales of themerchandize.

Although it has been described in the foregoing description that themobile phone 1 itself analyzes the two-dimensional barcode and extractsURL therefrom, the system may be modified so that the taken image(including the two-dimensional barcode) is transmitted to apredetermined server, that the mobile phone 1 is notified of a URL,which is obtained as a result of the analysis thereof, and that then, anaccess to an ordering site can be made. Thus, even in a case that themobile phone 1 does not have the function of analyzing a 2-dimensionalbarcode, as long as a camera is provided therein, a user can directlyaccess the ordering site and can perform the subsequent procedure.

Although it has been described in the foregoing description that theuser can perform a procedure for ordering a merchandize by accessing anordering site and using a screen then displayed, the system may beadapted so that data for causing the mobile phone 1 to display anordering screen similar to that of the ordering site is embedded in thetwo-dimensional barcode itself printed on the advertisement, and thatthe ordering screen is displayed according to a result of analysis ofthe two-dimensional barcode, which is performed by the mobile phone 1,instead of accessing the ordering site in that manner. If the userinstructs the mobile phone 1 in the ordering screen to perform orderentry of purchase of a merchandize, only information on the merchandizeID, the card ID, the expiration date, and so on is transmitted from themobile phone 1 to the settlement management company 51. Thus, an amountof communication data can be reduced. Consequently, communication costneeded for ordering can be suppressed.

Next, a sequence of processes to be performed subsequently to theprocess illustrated in FIG. 18 up to delivery of the merchandize isdescribed hereinbelow by referring to a flowchart of FIG. 20.

In step S151, an order placement section 145 of the management system 63transmits order information to the order entry/order placement/inventorymanagement system 121 of the member store 111. The order informationincludes attribute information, shipping address information, andinformation representing the merchandize code, the price, a result ofauthorization, an order entry number, a mail-address of the mobile phoneland so forth, in addition to information required to inform the system121 of completion of the settlement (step S39 shown in FIG. 18).

In step S161, the order entry/order placement/inventory managementsystem 121 receives the order information transmitted from themanagement system 63. Then, the process advances to step S162, whereuponthe order entry/order placement/inventory management system 121 performsorder entry processing. Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S163,whereupon the order entry/order placement/inventory management system121 transmits an order acknowledgement mail to the mobile phone 1according to the mail address of the mobile phone 1, which is includedin the order information.

The order acknowledgement mail is received by the mobile phone 1 in stepS181. Then, the information included in the order acknowledgement mailis displayed in the display unit 11.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of indication of the orderacknowledgement mail.

As shown in FIG. 21, information representing the name “DSC-X”, theprice “30,000 yen”, the number “1” of the ordered merchandise, and alsorepresenting the name “YAMADA” of the person who placed the order, andthe shipping address “TOKYO” is displayed as information represented bythe order entry confirmation mail, in order to make the user confirm theinformation. The information representing the name of the person, whoplaced the order, and the shipping address is obtained from the membermaster file 64 and provided to the order entry/order placement/inventorymanagement system 121 by being included in the order information.

In a lower part of the screen, a confirmation button 321 to be operatedat confirmation of the order entry is displayed. The user can confirmthe order entry of purchase of the merchandize, the name of which is“DSC-X”, by depressing this confirmation button 321.

If this confirmation button 321 is depressed, a return mail used forinforming of confirmation of the order entry is transmitted from themobile phone 1 to the order entry/order placement/inventory managementsystem 121 in step S183.

In step S164, the order entry/order placement/inventory managementsystem 121 receives the return mail from the mobile phone 1 through amail server 122. Then, the process advances to step S165, whereupon theorder entry/order placement/inventory management system 121 performsorder confirmation processing. For instance, the order entry/orderplacement/inventory management system 121 performs an operation ofsubtracting the quantity of stock of the merchandize by the number ofthe ordered merchandizes, an operation of searching for a deliverycompany, or an operation of notifying the settlement management company51 of the confirmation of the order entry as the order confirmationprocessing. Moreover, in step S166, the order entry/orderplacement/inventory management system 121 arranges the delivery of themerchandise and actually causes the delivery company to deliver themerchandize.

In step S184, the delivered merchandize is received by the user of themobile phone 1 at a place designated as the shipping address. Thus, theprocess is finished.

The ordering of a merchandize, the order entry, the order placement, thedelivery of the merchandise, and so on are performed in the sales systemof FIG. 4 in the above-mentioned manner.

Although it has been described in the foregoing description that theorder acknowledgement mail is transmitted from the member store 111,needless to say, the order acknowledgement mail may be transmitted fromthe mail server of the settlement management company 51.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating contact relations and flows of moneytransfers in the above-mentioned sales system.

As illustrated in this figure, a member store contract is concludedbetween the settlement management company 51 and the member store 111 sothat the settlement management company 51 manages the sales ofmerchandizes, and that the member store 111 utilizes the sales system.The member store 111 pays a fee for utilizing the sales system (a memberstore fee) to the settlement management company 51. The member store feefrom the member store 111 is received by an accounting system 331.

A contract is concluded between the settlement management company 51 anda credit card member (the user) 341 so that the settlement managementcompany 51 provides a card service (what is called a family cardservice) similar to a credit service to the mobile phone 1 that the cardmember 341 has, and that the card member 341 can use the card settlementservice. The card member 341 pays the settlement management company 51an annual fee as a consideration for providing the family card serviceto the user, and also pays a card member service charge as aconsideration for using the sales system. The fee and charge from thecard member 341 is received by an accounting system 332.

If the settlement management company 51 differs from a contactless ICcard management company 342 for managing the contactless IC cardreader/writer chip 171 incorporated into the mobile phone 1 that thecard member 341 has, contracts (a common area usage contract and a cardissuance service contract under which the contactless IC card managementcompany 342 provides services of registering the card ID and so forth)are concluded between the settlement management company 51 and thecontactless IC card management company 342 so that the contactless ICcard management company 342 manages the contactless IC card service. Thesettlement management company 51 pays fees (a common area activation feeand an area registration license fee) to the contactless IC cardmanagement company 342.

Moreover, if necessary, the settlement management company 51 pays anapplication fee (a licensing fee for the mobile settlement application)to a mobile phone carrier (a communication company) 343 with which thecard member 341 has made a contract.

Thus, the above-mentioned fees are paid by the member store 111 and thecard member 341 to the settlement management company 51 for managing thesales system. Consequently, the settlement management company 51 canmake a profit from these fees.

In the foregoing description, it has been described that the contactlessIC card reader/writer chip 171, that is, a module having both thefunction of a contactless IC card and the function of a reader/writer isprovided in the mobile phone 1. However, as above-mentioned, settlementusing the card ID registered according to the identification information(that is, registered by performing the process illustrated in FIG. 14)can be performed by providing only a module, which simply implements thefunction of the contactless IC card, in the mobile phone 1. The modulesimply implementing the function of a contactless IC card is, forexample, a Felica (“Felica” is a registered trademark of SonyCorporation).

Although the system employing the mobile terminal 1 as a terminal, inwhich the card information is registered, has been described in theforegoing description, the sales system maybe adapted so that the cardID is registered in PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a notebookpersonal computer, instead of the mobile phone, and that settlementusing this card ID is enabled.

In the foregoing description, the case, in which the user of the mobilephone 1 performs purchase of a predetermined merchandize, has beendescribed. The “purchase of a (predetermined) merchandize” includes a“service contract”.

Further, it has been described that the two-dimensional barcode isprinted on the advertising medium as a code representing an address ofthe ordering site. However, any other code may be used as the coderepresenting the address of the ordering site, as long as the code canidentifies the ordering site and enables the user (or the mobile phone1) to access the ordering site. For example, a one-dimensional barcodeobtained by arranging monochrome patterns only in a lateral direction,and an alphanumerical character string consisting of a predeterminednumber of digits may be used as the code representing the address of theordering site.

In the foregoing description, it has been described that the addressesof the ordering sites are taken in by the camera 12 of the mobile phone1. However, If a contactless IC card. (a wireless communication chip),such as a “Felica” (a registered trademark) card, is provided at apredetermined place in an advertising medium, an address stored in thecontactless IC card may be taken in by the contactless IC cardreader/writer chip 171 of the mobile phone 1.

FIGS. 23A and 23B are diagrams illustrating other examples ofadvertising media, which correspond to the advertising media shown inFIGS. 2A and 2B, respectively.

In each of the advertising media respectively shown in FIGS. 23A and23B, an associated one of contactless IC cards 351A, 351B, and 352, fromwhich information can be read by the contactless IC card reader/writerchip 171, is provided at a place corresponding to a position of theprinted two-dimensional barcode of an associated one of the advertisingmedia respectively shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.

In a case that the contactless IC cards 351A, 351B, and 352 are providedin the advertising media in this manner, a user causes his mobile phone1 to read the addresses stored in the contactless IC cards 351A, 351B,and 352 by bringing the mobile phone 1 close to these contactless ICcards. Thus, the user can directly access the ordering sites withoutmanually inputting URLs of the ordering sites to the mobile phone 1.

In the foregoing description, it has been described that the card ID isstored in the memory 181 of the mobile phone 1, and that the managementsystem 63 acquires the information concerning the credit card number andso on according to the card ID. However, needless to say, the system maybe adapted so that the information representing the credit card number,the expiration date of the credit card and also representing the nameand so forth of the user is stored directly in the memory 181, and thatsettlement is performed according to the information directly stored inthe memory 181.

Although the above-mentioned sequence of processes can be performed byhardware, these processes may be performed by software.

If the sequence of processes is performed by software, programsconstituting the software are installed in a computer incorporated indedicated hardware or, for example, a general-purpose computer or thelike, which is enabled by installing various kinds of programs thereinto perform various kinds of functions, from a network or from arecording medium.

This recording medium is constituted by a package medium, which isdistributed separately from a main unit of an apparatus to provideprograms to users and which includes a magnetic disk 271 (including aflexible disk), an optical disk 272 (including a CD-ROM (CompactDisk-Read Only Memory)) and a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)), amagneto-optical disk 273 (including a MD (Mini-Disk) (“MD” is aregistered trademark of Sony Corporation)), or a semiconductor memory274. Alternatively, the recording medium is constituted by ROM 262, inwhich programs are recorded, and a hard disk or the like included in astorage 268, which are provided to users by preliminarily beingincorporated into the main unit of the apparatus.

Furthermore, in the present specification, the steps describing programsrecorded in a recording medium include not only processing performedchronologically in the order in which the steps are described but alsoprocessing performed in parallel or individually, though this processingis not necessarily performed in chronological order.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

1. A communication system including a settlement management apparatus and a portable information terminal, said settlement management apparatus comprising: judging means for judging whether wirelessly input identification information, obtained from a contactless IC chip provided in a credit card having a credit card number and assigned to a user of said portable information terminal and used for predetermined settlement is valid for using credit services which the user uses, the identification information not including the credit card number; a storage controller configured to store, when said judging means decides that the identification information is valid, the identification information in said portable information terminal; and management means for managing registration information of a plurality of merchandise each of which has been registered via a merchandise registration procedure with said settlement management apparatus and each of which has a corresponding barcode generated by said management means, wherein said barcode is associated with an address of an ordering site which has registered said merchandise with said management means, wherein said portable information terminal comprises: a wireless reader configured to read the identification information from the contactless IC chip provided in the credit card issued from an issuer providing the credit services through wireless communication, said wireless reader including a wireless communication means for wireless acquisition of the identification information directly from the IC chip; transmitting means for transmitting the identification information read from a contactless IC chip provided in said portable information terminal directly to said settlement management apparatus; storage means for storing the identification information including a card ID corresponding to the IC chip based on a secured instruction issued by said settlement management apparatus when it is confirmed that the identification information is valid, said storage means including (a) memory means partitioned into a common area and a plurality of individually allotted areas and (b) a memory manager means for storing the card ID and an associated registered service information in the common area, wherein said plurality of individually allotted areas are configured to store information related to predetermined entities including service provider provided information and said common area is configured to transition to a card area in response to the memory manager means receiving the secured instruction; and bar code reading means for reading said bar code associated with said address of an ordering site which has registered said merchandise with said management means.
 2. A settlement management apparatus configured to communicate with a portable information terminal including a wireless communication means for wireless acquisition of identification information directly from a contactless IC chip including wireless communications, said settlement management apparatus comprising: judging means for judging whether the wirelessly input identification information, obtained from the wireless communications of the contactless IC chip provided in a credit card having a credit card number and assigned to a user of a portable information terminal, and used for predetermined settlement, is valid for using credit services which the user uses; a storage controller configured to transmit a secured instruction to the portable information terminal to store the identification information including a card ID corresponding to the contactless IC chip and an associated registered service in a common area of a memory of said portable information terminal when said judging means decides that the identification information is valid, the identification information not including the credit card number; and management means for managing registration information of a plurality of merchandise each of which has been registered via a merchandise registration procedure with said settlement management apparatus and each of which has a corresponding barcode generated by said management means, and for managing communication with individually allotted areas of the memory of the portable information terminal; wherein said barcode is associated with an address of an ordering site which has registered said merchandise with said management means.
 3. The settlement management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said judging means decides whether the identification information read and provided through wireless communication from the IC chip provided in the credit card issued by an issuer for providing the credit services is valid.
 4. The settlement management apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a manager configured to manage the identification information in such a way as to be associated with user identifying information according to which the user is identified, wherein said judging means associates the identification information with the user identifying information transmitted from said portable information terminal and decides whether the identification information managed by said manager is valid.
 5. A settlement management method comprising the: wirelessly obtaining identification information from a contactless IC chip provided in a credit card and including a wireless communication device, the credit card having a credit card number; judging whether the obtained wirelessly input identification information obtained from the contactless IC chip assigned to a user of a portable information terminal and used for predetermined settlement is valid for using credit services which the user uses, the identification information not including the credit card number; storing, in response to receiving a secured instruction that the identification information is valid, the identification information including a card ID corresponding to the contactless IC chip and an associated registered service, in a common area of a memory of said portable information terminal partitioned into the common area and a plurality of individually allotted areas, wherein said plurality of individually allotted areas are configured to store information related to predetermined entities including service provider provided information and said common area is configured to transition to a card area in response to receiving the secured instruction; maintaining registration information of a plurality of merchandise each of which has been registered with a settlement management apparatus via a registration procedure; and generating a corresponding barcode for each of said merchandise, said barcode is associated with an address of an ordering site which has registered said merchandise.
 6. A computer-readable carrier including computer program instructions that cause a computer to implement a method of settlement management, comprising: wirelessly obtaining identification information from a contactless IC chip provided in a credit card and including a wireless communication device, the credit card having a credit card number; judging whether wirelessly input identification information obtained from the contactless IC chip assigned to a user of a portable information terminal and used for predetermined settlement is valid for using credit services which the user uses, the identification information not including the credit card number; storing, in response to receiving a secured instruction that the identification information is valid, the identification information including a card ID corresponding to the contactless IC chip and an associated registered service, in a common area of a memory of said portable information terminal partitioned into the common area and a plurality of individually allotted areas, wherein said plurality of individually allotted areas are configured to store information related to predetermined entities including service provider provided information and said common area is configured to transition to a card area in response to receiving the secured instruction; maintaining registration information of a plurality of merchandise each of which has been registered with a settlement management apparatus via a registration procedure; and generating a corresponding barcode for each of said merchandise, said barcode is associated with an address of an ordering site which has registered said merchandise.
 7. A portable information terminal comprising: a wireless reader configured to read identification information from a contactless IC chip, provided in a credit card having a credit card number and issued from an issuer providing credit services, through wireless communication, said identification information not including the credit card number and assigned to a user of said portable terminal and used for predetermined settlement of the credit services which the user uses; transmitting means for transmitting the identification information read from a contactless IC chip provided in the portable information terminal directly to a settlement management apparatus, which manages settlement to be performed according to the identification information; storage means for storing the identification information including a card ID corresponding to the IC chip provided in the credit card based on a secured instruction issued by said settlement management apparatus when it is confirmed that the identification information is valid, said storage means including (a) memory means partitioned into a common area and a plurality of individually allotted areas and (b) memory manager means for storing the card ID and an associated registered service information in the common area, wherein said plurality of individually allotted areas are configured to store information related to predetermined entities including service provider provided information and said common area is configured to transition to a card area in response to the memory manager means receiving the secured instruction; and bar code reading means for reading a bar code associated with an address of an ordering site which has registered said merchandise with said settlement management apparatus.
 8. The portable information terminal according to claim 7, further comprising: acquisition means for acquiring a predetermined application provided from said settlement management apparatus; and a controller, implemented by the application acquired by said acquisition means, configured to control encrypting or decoding of communication performed between said settlement management apparatus and said terminal.
 9. An information processing method comprising: reading wirelessly input identification information obtained from a contactless IC chip, which is assigned to a user of a portable terminal and used for predetermined settlement with a settlement management apparatus, said contactless IC chip provided in a credit card having a credit card number and issued from an issuer providing credit services which the user uses, through wireless communication; and transmitting the identification information read in said reading from a contactless chip provided in said portable information terminal directly to a settlement management apparatus, which manages settlement to be performed according to the identification information, the identification information not including the credit card number; storing the identification information including a card ID corresponding to the IC chip provided on the credit card based on a secured instruction issued by said settlement management apparatus when it is confirmed that the identification information is valid; storing the card ID and an associated registered service information in a common area of memory partitioned into the common area and a plurality of individually allotted areas, wherein said plurality of individually allotted areas are configured to store information related to predetermined entities including service provider provided information and said common area is configured to transition to a card area in response to the memory manager means receiving the secured instruction; and reading a bar code associated with an address of an ordering site which has registered merchandise with said settlement management apparatus.
 10. A computer-readable carrier including computer program instructions that cause a computer to implement a method of settlement management, comprising: reading wirelessly input identification information obtained from a contactless IC card, which is assigned to a user of a portable terminal and used for predetermined settlement with a settlement management apparatus, said contactless IC chip provided in a credit card having a credit card number and issued from an issuer providing credit services which the user uses, through wireless communication; transmitting the identification information read in said reading from a contactless chip provided in said portable information terminal directly to a settlement management apparatus, which manages settlement to be performed according to the identification information the identification information not including the credit card number; storing the identification information including a card ID corresponding to the IC chip provided on the credit card based on a secured instruction issued by said settlement management apparatus when it is confirmed that the identification information is valid; storing the card ID and an associated registered service information in a common area of memory partitioned into the common area and a plurality of individually allotted areas, wherein said plurality of individually allotted areas are configured to store information related to predetermined entities including service provider provided information and said common area is configured to transition to a card area in response to the memory manager means receiving the secured instruction; and reading a bar code associated with an address of an ordering site which has registered said merchandise with said settlement management apparatus. 